Page 44 - Issue 71

VOL.1 , ISSUE 71OL.1 , ISSUE 71
V ELITE

What died with Epstein was not just a The Epstein case isn’t about Donald

defendant, it was the possibility of cross Trump, but he is impossible to remove
examination under oath, of subpoenas, of from its margins, Trump knew Epstein,
names forced into the daylight, but what praised him publicly, hosted him at Mar-a-

survived was his network, the unnamed Lago and appointed Alex Acosta who
men in flight logs, the anonymous funders, brokered Epstein’s first escape to cabinet.
the clients, the lawyers, the facilitators and This is not merely guilt by association, it is
the accomplices. Thus, Epstein’s world guilt by proximity to power and the

didn’t finally fall, it simply faded from the patterns of protection it offers.
front pages.
Epstein was not an aberration, he was a
system, he was the outcome of institutional

rot so deep it became mundane. the Epstein
case isn’t shocking because it was an
anomaly, it’s shocking because it was
normal in structure, in response and in

outcome. A powerful man abuses dozens of
underage girls, law enforcement knows,
victims speak, deals are cut, records are Trump ran as a populist, claiming he would
sealed, media outlets hesitate, and the cycle drain the swamp. He pointed a finger at

continues. His life was a curriculum in elite elite corruption with a rhetoric that
immunity, and there was no real mystery inspired anger and conspiracy, yet when
about what he was doing, the mystery was confronted with real elite criminality with
in why no one stopped him. hard evidence, he chose silence and

deflection or worse, complicity.

In this, however, Trump wasn’t unique, he
was only normal. Clinton flew on Epstein’s
jet. Dershowitz was on the legal team.
Prince Andrew remains insulated. The U.S.
justice system has failed, again and again,

to put anyone with real power on trial. The
The Epstein investigation was brought
populist illusion is that the enemy is outside
back to light recently due to congressional
the system. Yet the truth of Epstein is that
pressures calling for the immediate release
the enemy is the system, protected by
of all federal records related to Epstein and
influence, softened by media and dissolved
his associates, which highlights the broken
by time.
promises of transparency by the Trump
administration. It is only here, at the end,
that we must return to politics.

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